Shadow, Gold, and Dova
by Novi Zemog
Summary: All through Tamriel there are many stories to behold, living legends and epics passed through generations. To be awed and inspired by these tales of power and bravery. There are many stories that I could tell you that include figures of unrivaled heroism, courage, and honor. But the tale I plan to tell you includes none of that. This is a tale of idiocy...


**Novi: Why hello there readers. Once again I'm trying my hand at a fanfiction. This one is based on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Please let me know if you are disatisfied with my Orcs and give me advice. I spent a bit studying Orc culture and modifying this particular stronghold to be a very watered down version of some smaller Skryim Orc strongholds.**

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All through Tamriel there are many stories to behold, living legends and epics passed through generations. Men become Gods and Dragons eat worlds, every story carrying with it a life of its own. To be awed and inspired by these tales of power and bravery. There are many stories that I could tell you that include figures of unrivaled heroism, courage, and honor. But the tale I plan to tell you includes none of that. This is a tale of idiocy, brutish behavior, and many mistakes.

To set the record straight, this tale is not the story of a single person but of three unique...well...it's a bit difficult for me to call them heroes, but I guess I can stick to protagonists. Each one with their own pasts, the events that may haunt them, guide them, or rationalize some part of their personality. These three "protagonists" are known as Kenai, Nür, and Yodenheim. Their beginnings were humble and widely unknown, but I know. To understand their tale you must first understand their pasts. I will begin by telling you of Nür, an Orc.

Like most Orc she lived in a stronghold, but this was not any stronghold. This was the stronghold -city of Jür(1), one of the largest strongholds in Tamriel, but certainly not one held in high esteem. They followed the Code of Malacath, but only loosely , and their traditions had begun to fade. The stronghold had grown too large for the Cheifton to be the only to have wives and children. While the marriages were not documented officially, many unions had begun and children had been born from them. One such union between Kirn and Rogdou lead to the birth of Nür, who at the time was named Irgol (Ear-goal) which meant death bell.

The reason behind her name was that when she first gave a cry moments after her birth, it marked the death of her mother. The week following her mother's death was spent in the care of Nord healers, for Irgol was very sick. Not only did the stronghold see her as weak because of her weak mother, for Rogdou failed at the only job all orc women were expected of, birthing children, but because Irgol had started off as a frail infant. Many told Kirn to simply let her die, becuase her weakness would bring more shame to him than his wife had. But Kirn saw strength in her and was determined to see her beat the mysterious illness that had overtaken her.

When the first week had come to an end Kirn had removed Irgol from the healers' care,For any longer would be coddling her. The healers reluctantly alowed her removal, despite the fact that she needed more time to recover. So they left the stronghold with heavey hearts, predicting the baby would be dead by morning. The next morning, Kirn awoke to the shrill shreik of a vengeful Hagraven, only to remember that the shrieking was actually coming from his little bundle of joy (insert sarcasm here). He pulled himself from his bed and began to raise his daughter.

Because of a significant lack of wet-nurses and the fact that Irgol's mother was dead, Kirn had to get creative with his child rearing methods. This meant that a mother's milk was replaced with a foul tasting formula designed by a local herbalist. The first time her fed his daughter the formula she spat it up, on him. Then he proceeded to tell the child in the most even tone that he could manage that if she chose to starve to death it would just mean he would not have to waste his gold on a formula for her. Despite the fact that she was so young she seemed to understand, seeing as she only scowled at him darkly when Kirn gave her a bottle rather than spitting it up.

On a whim Kirn tried the formula himself and almost swallowed a coal from his forge to get the taste out. Irgol was surprised to find a bit of honey in the formula the next time she drank it. Kirn was pleased to note that at the very least his infant daughter could withstand torture and possibly poisoning. And before she was a month and a half, she was brought to the forge. Kirn believed that if she was healthy enough to eat on her own she would be able to survive the forge. So Irgol grew up in the forge, learning from a young age that if you could lift a hammer then you could use a hammer.

By the time she was six she was trusted with the forge for the first time. She could smith gauntlets, boots, daggers and jewelry so the business would not be harmed. Because most of the mines were filled with nothing but coal her father had to travel far distances in order to by the materials he needed. Kirn did not trust the few caravans allowed in the stronghold to trade him good metal. So as the six year-old Orc girl wandered the market for the first time without clinging to her father's shadows she began to hear the whispers. She had heard it before, they hissed insults at her, calling her weak because of her mother and saying she was shame to Orc blood. Irgol showed no signs she was affected even as she felt her innocence wither. She did't have her father to protect her and she was determined to make it so he wouldn't have to.

When Irgol had finished her shopping, she was a shrewd child and manage to barter with the traders to get a lot of food and still have quite a few septims left, she had her first encounter with a child. For the most part she was silent, the boy walked up to her with a sneer that was emphasized by his upturned nose. His tusks were a bit small for his age, he looked to be about eight, but he was till bigger than Irgol by much. His dark green skin hid the dirt smudges easily but Irgol could tell he was used to playing ruff, even tufts or his mohawk had been ripped out. "Give me a gold piece runt!" the boy demanded, taking a step toward her attempting to appear intimidating. Irgol only stared at the boy coldly. "I said hand it over!" the boy growled. Irgol rolled her shoulders and then reached into her bag of gold. She took one out and flipped it. The golden coin was easily caught by the older boy and he gave her a smug look.

"I'll meet you here in two days when you pay me back." she said clearly, or as clearly as she could manage. Her father's tusks were quite large so it was only logical her would come in large too and they impaired her speech slightly. Though it was rare for her to really speak to anyone, she usually could convey her thoughts in a look. The boy looked almost surprised to hear her voice but his surprise look left him as he stared at her with amusement.

"Sure, I'll pay you back. You can trust me." he said trying not to laugh. He had heard that Irgol was weak but he hadn't known she was stupid as well. The boy had clearly chosen an excellent target. Irgol gave the boy a curt nod and swiftly turned on her heel, her dark hair whipping behind her. Whispers quickly passed through the market of how shamefully Irgol had allowed herself to be extorted. And that if her father were there he would have ended her for putting him through so much shame. Irgol ignored them all, silently making her way to the forge and have a bit of bread and cheese before returning to work.

When the two days had passed she had returned to the market. She stood in the middle of the plaza waiting patiently for the boy to appear. When the boy did show he barely contained his laughter. "Where's my gold?" Irgol asked, holding out her hand. This seemed like the last straw for the boy because he began laughing, though it came out as more of a cackle."So you are as stupid as you are weak. I just thought that you were trying to save face. Did you really think I was going to pay you back?" he asked harshly. He expected for Irgol to flinch and for her brownish green skin to flush in embarrassment He wanted her black eyes to water with tears. Yet his wishes were ignored, Irgol only stared at him with her cold eyes and her face did not so much as twitch with any sort of emotion.

"I assumed we'd be having problems. I'll be back tomorrow for my gold. And you better be there." the tone of her voice was even but the threat was clear. The boy only laughed, his golden eyes shining with cruel enjoyment. He nodded and walked off carelessly. To him there was nothing Irgol could do to him for she was weak.

Irgol returned from the market that day and returned to the forge. Few bothered to stop by while her father was gone, they didn't like her all that much. Still some did come into the forge, mostly travellers looking for a dagger to protect themselves or horse shoes to put on a you stallion they had just bought. Over all it was a rather boring day for Irgol. Her mind wandered off to the boy who had taken a gold piece from her. She decided that she must do what she had to gain cooperation. She found herself that night looking through her fathers special cupboard in the forge and smirked when she found exactly what she needed.

The next morning Irgol made her way back to the plaza. She wore her normal mini-version of a blacksmith's apron, her large forging gloves covered her hands and her hide boots scuffed the ground as she walked. She looked as though it would be a normal day, except for the large stick strapped to her back. It was almost twice as tall as her and so thick her hands barely wrapped around it. It was supposed to be used as a handle for a war-hammer but Irgol had taken it for the day. She decided that today would be special. She was pulling out all the stops for her new friend.

The older boy came back to the plaza, if only to laugh at Irgol again. He decided to humor the idiot weakling. He'd even brought some of his friends to laugh at her with him. The other Orc boys stood a few steps behind the first, eager to see him humiliate Irgol. The older boy sent a smirk to his friends before he faced Irgol. He looked confused at the pole strapped to her back but nonetheless he didn't see her as a threat. "You're pretty stubborn aren't you? Still think I'm going to pay you?" he spat. The other Orc boys laughed in unison at the girl. Irgol let her gaze pass over the boys, each ranged from seven to ten years old. All of the relatively the same size or smaller than the boy in front of her, she guessed he must have liked the feeling of being the strongest of the group. Irgol rolled her shoulders again this time there was a series of pops that followed the movement.

"I know you will be paying me. But I don't enjoy have the gold come late. When I give loans I expect to be paid, when I say." she said coldly. The boy gave her a confused look. He wondered, did this little runt think she actually gave him a loan? It was very obvious he had stolen from her. She must have known that. The boy was beginning to believe that she was an even bigger idiot than he had originally thought. He wondered how could anyone be that dumb, to not know they had been robbed.

"I think I know why your father leaves the strong hold. I wouldn't want to be associated with an idiot like you." he shot out. The boys behind him all laughed, their voices loud and obnoxious in the plaza. People began to slow down their pace just to watch and the vendor's looked at them as though they were there to entertain. Irgol gave a sigh and decided she would have to put on a show to get the boy to know his place.

"I see that you don't understand. Allow me to give you the message in a way you understand." she said as she removed the pole from it's straps. She held it firmly in her hands and took a strong swing. With a loud 'thwack' the pole struck the boy behind his right knee. He fell a bit and placed his hand under his knee with a surprised and pained shout. Irgol swung once again and struck the older boy across the side of his face. Though the pole was thick and her swing was heavy, it didn't do enough damage to break his teeth, but the inside of his cheek was cut by his teeth, causing him to spit blood. Before the boy had so much as a chance to stand the pole came down on his back, thwack thwack thwack, until he was lying on the floor in pain. When the beating ended he pulled himself off the ground in fear.

"You're a monster!" he shouted, barely containing his tears. The plaza was cloaked in silence and the people stared. While it was expected for the other Orc boys to defend their friend they did not. Whether it was because they believed it more honorable for the boy to fight his own battles or simply shock over what had happened was left unknown. Irgol only glared at the bruised and battered Orc boy and shoved him to the ground with her pole.

"There's a tax on my loans, you better have my five gold tomorrow. If you don't then I'm just going to have find a way to get it from you. And I can get very creative." she threatened, her voice lowering dangerously. The boy scrambled back and was pulled up by his posse. Irgol strapped the pole to her back once again and walked away. The plaza slowly came back to life again and the stronghold was abuzz with the tale of Irgol the monster. Though the name did not inspire much respect from the Orcs, her strength and her name were only a dark omen to them.

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**1: Jür-in Orc means loud, or battle cry. This is not real Orc language but my own from. **

******Learn a bit of Orc:**

******ür- means sound**

**********Nür-means silent**

**********Kirn-means Stone Jaw**

**********Ragdou-means To break something**


End file.
